DeSmogBlog publishes EPA censored report

DeSmogBlog has published a copy of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) PowerPoint presentation about groundwater contamination from drilling and fracking. The report describes findings about Dimock, Pennsylvania, which was featured in the films Gasland and Gasland 2, because of widespread contamination of water wells in the town.

The PowerPoint presentation reveals a clear link between hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) for shale gas in Dimock and groundwater contamination, but was censored by the Obama Administration [Internal EPA report highlights disputes over fracking and well water]. Instead, the EPA issued an official desk statement in July 2012 – in the thick of election year – saying the water in Dimock was safe for consumption.

Other charts depict Cabot’s Gesford 3 and 9 wells as doing much of the same, allowing methane to migrate up to aquifers to unprecedented levels – not coincidentally – coinciding with the wells being fracked. The PowerPoint’s conclusions are damning …

Former EPA Head Lisa Jackson’s Role in Censoring Report

… At the center of the management team overseeing the false desk statement: former EPA head Lisa Jackson, who now works as Apple’s top environmental advisor. Jackson was recently replaced by just-confirmed EPA head Gina McCarthy.

This was revealed by the other whistleblower, who as part of the regular duties of his job, was a member of the “HQ-Dimock” email listserv. On that list, Jackson went by the pseudonym “Richard Windsor” as a way to shield her real name from potential Freedom of Information Act requests.

“Many members of the email group…were lawyers and members of Lisa Jackson’s inner political circle,” explained Soraghan.

“Hide It, Drop It, Forget About It”

… The real question at the heart of the matter: What were the EPA’s motives for doing an about-face on a key multi-year tax-payer subsidized study?

“It is unconscionable that, in the name of political expediency, the Obama Administration suppressed key information that would have connected the dots between fracking and water contamination,” Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food and Water Watch told DeSmogBlog. “Gina McCarthy must put the health and safety of Americans first and prevent the agency from succumbing to political pressure.”

Scott Ely – a former Cabot employee and Dimock resident who has three small children and whose water was contaminated by Cabot – expressed similar despair over EPA abandoning ship in this high-profile study.

“When does anybody just stand by the truth? Why is it that we have a bunch of people in Washington, DC who are trying to manipulate the truth of what’s happening to people in Dimock because of the industry?,” Ely asked rhetorically.

Ely says he keeps an open line of communications with EPA employees, who regularly check in and caution him not to use his water. The employees remain unidentified for fear of retribution by EPA upper-level management.

“We thought EPA was going to come in and be our savior. And what’d they do? They said the truth can’t be known: hide it, drop it, forget about it.”